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BlackBerry 10 event: No sizzle, no steak
‘Sneak peek’ turns out to be the same test version RIM has been showing off for months. The company can’t afford many more such marketing missteps
By Vito Pilieci, Ottawa Citizen November 9, 2012
John Mutter, Enterprise Mobility Architect at Research In Motion, discusses applications that will run on the soon to be released Blackberry 10 during a Jam session for developers held at the Delta Hotel on Thursday.
Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — If there was one thing to take away from Research In Motion Ltd.’s swanky event at the Château Laurier this week, it’s that the “Road to BlackBerry 10” is long and bumpy.
After numerous delays in releasing its much touted new line of phones, RIM finally reached out to a core group of users — federal bureaucrats and politicians — offering a “sneak peek” at the “next generation mobile platform that will change everything.”
With the new phone expected to go on sale within the first three months of 2013, the event seemed like a smart move. Reach out to your most loyal user group and offer it a reward for continuing to stand behind you.
Too bad RIM messed it up.
On Thursday night at the downtown hotel, eager civil servants and politicos packed a room in the hope of getting a look at the upcoming device and its operating system.
Instead they got a brief demonstration of one of the company’s test versions of its new smartphone. The same test version making its way around other demos across North America for the better part of six months. It wasn’t BB10. The phone they showed isn’t the one being released next year and the software on the phone used in the demo isn’t the software that will eventually make its way to consumers. Some of the basic functionality is there, but the phone they showed is the one they give to developers to make sure their applications will work.
The event wasn’t the promised “start of a new era.” Everyone’s seen it before. It was like promising to give someone an orange and then handing over a lemon because, hey, they’re both citrus fruit.
RIM rolled out the red carpet for this event. Booze flowed, food was served and the invitation said “attendees will have a chance to win a BlackBerry 10 device,” surely a draw for many. New chief marketing officer Frank Boulben and other key executives were there.
Boulben told the crowd that the evening marked the first step down the “road to BlackBerry 10.” He said the company would be holding more such events to show its fans the new device, rather than telling them about it through advertisements. He was passionate, articulate and confident, stating the coming weeks and months will mark “the biggest technology turnaround in history.”
Then, he made way for the regurgitated test model demonstration.
Vivek Bhardwaj, the head of RIM’s software portfolio, tried to explain the absence of the real BB10. He said the company had made the decision to hold off showing the new device or the final version of the BB10 software “until closer to launch.” RIM doesn’t want to tip competitors to its secrets.
However, earlier in the week, RIM announced that it had released BB10 devices to cellular carriers around the world for testing. Bhardwaj confirmed that these were the final production versions of BB10 and the same smartphones consumers will be buying. The devices are now officially out of RIM’s labs and into the wild. If carriers have them, there can be little doubt that RIM’s competitors have versions of them too, or at least have now seen what BB10 has to offer. There are already videos appearing online, most recently from Mexico, showing off what is claimed to be the new BB10 “L-Series” touchscreen phone.
Further, with new Android, Windows Phone and iOS software and devices just reaching the market, it’s hardly likely that any competitor will slash the life cycle of a new offering just to knock off a BB10 feature — assuming the competitor’s developers could mimic the feature in less than four months before BB10 hits retailers.
Instead of the sneak peek they were promised, those who took time out of their schedules Thursday saw the same device that came to Ottawa on Oct. 25. They saw the same demo that’s been given thousands of times and they left with no more knowledge of BB10 than they had coming in. Many could be overheard saying that they’d seen this on YouTube already.
Finally, RIM awarded a BB10 device — or at least a certificate for one — to one attendee. The new phone will be couriered out when they are released.
In essence, the company gave someone in the audience an “I owe you.”
Puzzling events like this could reinforce the opinion of industry analysts who claim that BB10 will face further delays or will arrive “dead on arrival” entirely. They also do little to help buoy RIM’s sagging brand.
And deciding not to showcase BB10 in the months leading to its launch is a slap in the face to the thousands of talented employees at RIM, many here in Ottawa, who have sacrificed vacations and are working huge amounts of overtime to make this device a possibility.
There is no doubt that BB10, when its eventually released, will be an industry-leading device, from a technological standpoint. But it’s marketing that will make or break it.
And when it comes to marketing, this week’s event proved that RIM still acts like the big kid on the block. In reality, it’s now an ant under a microscope. Everything it does leading up to the release of BB10 is being watched closely. Too many more steps in the wrong direction and it will get burned.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/techno...sizzle+steak/7526864/story.html#ixzz2C18BFXHh
‘Sneak peek’ turns out to be the same test version RIM has been showing off for months. The company can’t afford many more such marketing missteps
By Vito Pilieci, Ottawa Citizen November 9, 2012
John Mutter, Enterprise Mobility Architect at Research In Motion, discusses applications that will run on the soon to be released Blackberry 10 during a Jam session for developers held at the Delta Hotel on Thursday.
Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — If there was one thing to take away from Research In Motion Ltd.’s swanky event at the Château Laurier this week, it’s that the “Road to BlackBerry 10” is long and bumpy.
After numerous delays in releasing its much touted new line of phones, RIM finally reached out to a core group of users — federal bureaucrats and politicians — offering a “sneak peek” at the “next generation mobile platform that will change everything.”
With the new phone expected to go on sale within the first three months of 2013, the event seemed like a smart move. Reach out to your most loyal user group and offer it a reward for continuing to stand behind you.
Too bad RIM messed it up.
On Thursday night at the downtown hotel, eager civil servants and politicos packed a room in the hope of getting a look at the upcoming device and its operating system.
Instead they got a brief demonstration of one of the company’s test versions of its new smartphone. The same test version making its way around other demos across North America for the better part of six months. It wasn’t BB10. The phone they showed isn’t the one being released next year and the software on the phone used in the demo isn’t the software that will eventually make its way to consumers. Some of the basic functionality is there, but the phone they showed is the one they give to developers to make sure their applications will work.
The event wasn’t the promised “start of a new era.” Everyone’s seen it before. It was like promising to give someone an orange and then handing over a lemon because, hey, they’re both citrus fruit.
RIM rolled out the red carpet for this event. Booze flowed, food was served and the invitation said “attendees will have a chance to win a BlackBerry 10 device,” surely a draw for many. New chief marketing officer Frank Boulben and other key executives were there.
Boulben told the crowd that the evening marked the first step down the “road to BlackBerry 10.” He said the company would be holding more such events to show its fans the new device, rather than telling them about it through advertisements. He was passionate, articulate and confident, stating the coming weeks and months will mark “the biggest technology turnaround in history.”
Then, he made way for the regurgitated test model demonstration.
Vivek Bhardwaj, the head of RIM’s software portfolio, tried to explain the absence of the real BB10. He said the company had made the decision to hold off showing the new device or the final version of the BB10 software “until closer to launch.” RIM doesn’t want to tip competitors to its secrets.
However, earlier in the week, RIM announced that it had released BB10 devices to cellular carriers around the world for testing. Bhardwaj confirmed that these were the final production versions of BB10 and the same smartphones consumers will be buying. The devices are now officially out of RIM’s labs and into the wild. If carriers have them, there can be little doubt that RIM’s competitors have versions of them too, or at least have now seen what BB10 has to offer. There are already videos appearing online, most recently from Mexico, showing off what is claimed to be the new BB10 “L-Series” touchscreen phone.
Further, with new Android, Windows Phone and iOS software and devices just reaching the market, it’s hardly likely that any competitor will slash the life cycle of a new offering just to knock off a BB10 feature — assuming the competitor’s developers could mimic the feature in less than four months before BB10 hits retailers.
Instead of the sneak peek they were promised, those who took time out of their schedules Thursday saw the same device that came to Ottawa on Oct. 25. They saw the same demo that’s been given thousands of times and they left with no more knowledge of BB10 than they had coming in. Many could be overheard saying that they’d seen this on YouTube already.
Finally, RIM awarded a BB10 device — or at least a certificate for one — to one attendee. The new phone will be couriered out when they are released.
In essence, the company gave someone in the audience an “I owe you.”
Puzzling events like this could reinforce the opinion of industry analysts who claim that BB10 will face further delays or will arrive “dead on arrival” entirely. They also do little to help buoy RIM’s sagging brand.
And deciding not to showcase BB10 in the months leading to its launch is a slap in the face to the thousands of talented employees at RIM, many here in Ottawa, who have sacrificed vacations and are working huge amounts of overtime to make this device a possibility.
There is no doubt that BB10, when its eventually released, will be an industry-leading device, from a technological standpoint. But it’s marketing that will make or break it.
And when it comes to marketing, this week’s event proved that RIM still acts like the big kid on the block. In reality, it’s now an ant under a microscope. Everything it does leading up to the release of BB10 is being watched closely. Too many more steps in the wrong direction and it will get burned.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/techno...sizzle+steak/7526864/story.html#ixzz2C18BFXHh
